Taking on the role of educating hopefuls tobecome mariners
Onomichi Marine Institute
The Onomichi Maritime Institute, a private institution that specializes in crewmember
education, also plays an important role in the formation of the Maritime City ofOnomichi. The institute became registered as The class 1 Training Facility, the firstprivatized six grade Licensed Mariner training facility to do so, by the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure,

Transport&Tourism(MLIT) in 2009. Most of who wish to
become mariners and attend the training
facility is on shore duty with non-marine
duty. Their age is a wide range fromtwenties to forties. They are employed bydomesticshipping

companies

after

finishing their curriculum. The following
is an interview with company chairman
Yasufumi Murase and senior director
Kuniaki Mukai.
Photo caption
Chairman Murase (left) and Senior Director Mukai
Kaiji Press: Can you talk a bit about the institute's operations?
Murase: We have several courses, including our Registered Small Vessel Operator'sCourse, Marine Mechanic Training Course, and Scuba Diving Training Course, but wealso have a special technical school called Japan Marine Technical School. We are theonly privatized institution to have a maritime-related special technical school.
KP: How did you achieve registration as the class1 Training Facility?
Murase: The shipping world is facing a critical lack of mariners, and once the time camewhen the bulk of the baby boomers began to retire, the domestic shipping industry inparticular was faced with the problem of coping with a lack of workers. The class 1
Training Facilities where one could obtain a mariner's license included state-run
educational institutions such as Tokyo University of Marine Science & Technology(formerly a nautical college), Kobe University, fisheries universities, and marinetechnical colleges, as well as Tokai University. This was due to the fact that theinstitutions were required to have training ships, but later on institutions were also
permitted to conduct training using training ships at the Marine Technical College
navigation training center.
The Seto Inland Sea has many domestic shipping companies, but graduates tend tochoose large shipping companies despite putting up offers of employment at universities
and marine technical colleges, so we needed to find some way of acquiring crewmembers.
We talked with the relevant government agencies to see if our institute could
participate in mariner education and training, but our lack of a training ship proved tobe a bottleneck.
Mukai: Given the situation, we decided to talk with the Onomichi Maritime City
Promotion Council being advanced by the City of Onomichi, the Chugoku District
Transport Bureau, and others, and because human resources training was already on
their list of items for consideration, the decision was made to create a plan forcrewmember training under a joint effort between the private and public sectors. Byproviding mariner education at Onomichi Marine Institute and outsourcing training
ships from various domestic shipping companies, we managed to achieve registration as
the class 1 Training Facility from the MLIT where people could acquire six grade
mariner license, which is the first certification required to become a mariner. The Japan
Marine Technical School has also added a 'mariner course'.
KP: How has recruitment of students been?
Mukai: Our first batch of students in fiscal 2009 saw nine students, followed by 20 infiscal 2010, 20 in fiscal 2011, and 28 for the current fiscal year. In terms ofdemographics, ages vary widely, ranging from those in their 20s to those in their 40s,
and we have students from all over Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu.
Those seeking to change jobs from on-land to at-sea are, for the most part, people thatwanted to become mariners at a young age, but were unable to do so due to family
circumstances. There are also those that wish to get a fresh start on life due to poor
working conditions at their previous workplace due to the economy. Those kinds ofpeople come here after talking with their friends and acquaintances that are mariners,
and realizing that drawing up life plans becomes easier after becoming a licensed
mariner. Another apparent appeal is the ability to take holidays in large blocks.
KP: What challenges will you face going forward?
Murase: We currently only offer the six grade Mariner Licenses, which is the doorway tobecoming a deckhand, navigation officer, and ship captain. We have been hearing more
and more requests from shipping companies to train engineers, so we would like to focus

on being able to do that going forward. In addition, all trainee tuition and expenses
related to training ships from shipping companies is paid out-of-pocket. We are nearlyat the point where we will see a critical insufficiency of crewmembers, so I would like tosee more support offered to private institutions.
Onomichi Technical Institute Foundation
Chairperson: Yasufumi Murase
Address: 2-18-43 Kurihara-higashi, Onomichi City, Hiroshima 722-0025
Phone: +81-848-37-8111
Fax: +81-848-37-8110
Offices: San-in (Shimane), Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Technical school: Japan Marine Technical SchoolE-mail: onomichi@marine-techno.or.jp
Homepage: http://www.marine-techno.or.jp